Brian de Palma's latest feature, the French-US co-production Femme Fatale, recorded a healthy start on its world debut in France. The thriller, which has secured an eleventh-hour out-of-competition Cannes screening on May 25, sold 220,000 tickets (equivalent to $1.1m) in its opening week to May 7.

The film, which takes place in Cannes during the festival, jumped out of the starting blocks in France, with an opening day tally of 69,330 tickets sold ($332,784) from its 304 screens nationwide - ahead of fellow opener The Scorpion King with 67,662 admissions from 463 prints. Femme Fatale's resulting screen average played stronger than last week's Hollywood opener, Panic Room, which saw 73,891 admissions from 475 prints on its first day.

In Paris, Femme Fatale beat all-comers to take the top chart position for the week ending May 7, but had to settle for fifth place in the nationwide chart. First day admissions in the French capital were 24,870 compared to Scorpion King 20,252 and holdover Panic Room's 19,709.

International sales for Femme Fatale are handled by Summit Entertainment.